Final Cook Strait crossing for ferry

Otago Daily Times

a day ago

By Nick James of RNZ
Interisland ferry the Aratere has crossed Cook Strait for the final time after 26 years of service.
It left Picton at the top of the South Island about 11am today and arrived in Wellington at the bottom of the North Island just after 2pm.
Tug boats sprayed water into the air as a sign of respect for the ship.
Cabin crew gave out free chocolate cupcakes to passengers with blue icing and the Aratere in white icing on top.
There was also a memory wall set up with blue and yellow balloons and a sign which said "We will miss you".
The ferry first arrived on New Zealand's shores in 1999 having been built in Spain at the Hijos de J. Barreras shipyard a year prior and replaced the Aratik a, which had been in service from 1974.
Aratere is being retired so new port infrastructure can be built for two new ships set to arrive in 2029.
In its time serving the Interislander, the vessel made 53,000 crossings and taken more than five million passengers across Cook Strait.
Jon Love, a passenger on one of the Aratere' s first sailings in 1999 and onboard again today, said he feels sad to see it leave service.
"I've always had a big interest in ferries, particularly our ferries, our rail ferries here in New Zealand, since I was a young boy.
"Being able to say I have been on the first and now the last, again its a bit of a mixed bag for me.
"They are definitely going to feel the loss and from an operational perspective, it is going to hit hard."
Lachie Deans and his support worker Scott Wallace made a special trip over to Picton to be on the last trip.
Lachie said it was a memorable ferry for him.
"I have liked her since I was really young, and it is really sad to see her go after 26 years in service."
Scott said it had been great to talk to crew that have served on Aratere .
"It is kind of cool chatting to everyone on there and just seeing how sad and happy people are."
The ferry would stay in the Wellington port till its future was confirmed by KiwiRail.
Maritime Union Wellington Branch Secretary Fiona Mansell worked on the Aratere as a cabin attendant and earlier today said it would be "really sad" to see the ship sail into the capital for the last time.
"It's kind of like losing something or somebody that's very close to you."
Mansell said the ferry's crew created the best memories onboard.
"They're with each other you know a lot, they become family, not just friends, not just crew mates."
The ship's retirement was difficult to deal with, she said. "It's a big loss to the crew, to our membership, to this country, to our city."
Cool Tranz truck driver Morgan MacAllister-Robb had been sailing on the Interislander frequently for his 35-year career.
Over the past six years he had been onboard the Aratere six days a week, which equated to 312 trips annually.
MacAllister-Robb said by a stroke of luck he had a ticket on its last crossing.
"I didn't even actually have to plan it, it just happens to be one of my scheduled sailings."
The Aratere was his favourite of the three ferries in the Interislander fleet and it would be weird to not see it at Wellington and Picton ports. Aratere statistics Meaning of the name: Quick Path
Built: Hijos de J.Barreras S.A, Gijon, Spain
Specs: 12,595 gross tonnes, 150 metres long
Carrying capacity: 400 Passengers /1005 lane metres freight / 425 metres rail freight
Crew: 31
After the extension in 2011: Specs: 17,816 gross tonnes, 183.69 metres long
Carrying capacity: 650 Passengers /30 trucks or 230 cars / 28 rail wagons
In total, Aratere has: Completed about 53,000 crossings
Carried more than 5 million passengers
Carried more than 1.5 million passenger vehicles
Carried more than 500,000 trucks Early years of service
In its first months of service, Aratere faced several mechanical problems - including a sailing on February 24, 1999, where it suffered a series of power failures that left it adrift in Wellington Harbour.
Days later, KiwiRail - then called Tranz Rail - put out a large full page ad in the Weekend Herald which had a picture of the ferry with the text: "Sorry it hasn't been plain sailing".
There were problems with the ship highlighted throughout that year and in the 2000s, which included the time it was taken out in heavy conditions and lurched forward, which lightly injured five people.
It led to the introduction of new heavy weather protocols for Cook Strait ferry operators. The extension
In late April 2011 the Aratere headed to Singapore for six months for a $53 million 30m extension which increased the amount of passengers it could hold from 400 to 650.
The work was done by cutting the ship in half and inserting what was called the "mid-body".
As part of that work, new propellers were fitted to it which became a focus when two years later the ferry's starboard propeller was lost in Cook Strait.
Transport Accident Investigation Commission's (TAIC) chief investigator Tim Burfoot said the propeller was fitted poorly, and that was likely because KiwiRail either did not seek, or follow, expert advice. The grounding
On an evening sailing on June 21 in 2024, the Aratere ran aground just outside of Picton with 47 passengers on board.
No-one was injured, but it triggered another Transport Accident Investigation Commission investigation, with its interim report finding a 36-second auto pilot mistake led to the grounding.
The report showed that a new Kongsberg steering system had been installed on the Aratere just weeks prior in May, and 83 inter-island crossings were made in the three subsequent weeks.
It also found the crew did not know how to take back control from the autopilot, and it took about two minutes before the ship was brought back under manual control. Retirement
In April his year, Rail Minister Winston Peters announced it would be retired due to it being the only ferry where rail freight can roll on and off it.
That means it can't use another wharf in Picton while port upgrades there and in Wellington are under way for two new ferries, set to arrive in 2029.
At the time, Peters said it would have cost $120 million to keep the Aratere in service.
The retirement has caused a restructure at KiwiRail with some jobs on the chopping block.
In a statement, the company said that confirmation of what jobs would end and what staff could be redeployed in the company would come at the end of August.
A decision had not made on the future of the Aratere post-retirement yet and the vessel would lay up at its Wellington berth in the meantime, KiwiRail said.